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CHEER’s vision is all-inclusive village

Project is answer to growing need for seniors' housing
February 22, 2017

Story Location:
Lewes-Georgetown Highway
Sand Hill Road
Georgetown, DE
United States

Sussex County CHEER has unveiled its most ambitious plan to date.

Five years in the works, the CHEER Life Care Village is planned for a 35-acre parcel adjacent to the existing CHEER Community Center at the intersection of Route 9 and Sand Hill Road in Georgetown.

The village will be organized with a small downtown and surrounding community, said Carolyn O'Neal, the senior organization's community relations director.

In the downtown area on Main Street – lining a small lake and courtyards – the plan calls for shops, including a hair salon, cafe with outdoor seating, pharmacy and a day care center for employees. “There will be a series of shops to cater to the residents of the community,” O'Neal said.

Planned “suburbs” would include 50 independent living cottages arranged in duplexes. In the more urban area of the village are planned 120 independent living apartments, 120 assisted-living rooms and a facility with 120 nursing beds.

O'Neal said all of the proposed buildings would be connected by elevated and enclosed bridges to the existing CHEER building, which houses an adult day-care center and a large community center available for rent.

CHEER Executive Director Ken Bock said ground could be broken for the project in late 2018. THINK Architecture of Kennett Square, Pa., has been selected to design the village.

O'Neal said the project is in answer to the growing need for affordable senior housing in the county. According to CHEER's most recent strategic report, the rate of growth of Sussex residents 55 years of age and older is two times greater than the growth rate of the general population. The report refers to the influx of seniors as the “silver tsunami” in Sussex County.

At build-out, the village could house as many as 500 seniors.

CHEER provides a series of programs for seniors aged 50 years and older including seven CHEER activity centers, transportation, in-home care, and housekeeping and meal delivery. In addition, a seniors' apartment complex is adjacent to the Georgetown center.

 

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